All things BDiddy.

As most of you know, I work at one of the larger financial institutions in the United States. And I’m very fortunate that the people I work for have managed our company on sound, conservative, fundamental financial principles. As a result, we’re in fairly good shape.

But that’s obviously not the case for everyone. We just saw the unthinkable semi-failure of Wachovia and WaMu and who knows what’s still out there. And because I work for a financial institution and people mistakenly have the impression that I might possess some sort of far-reaching knowledge of our current global market situation, I get asked this question: “What’s this stuff all about? And how did all this happen?”

I’ll spare you my take on the situation. And instead, I’ll pass on this YouTube video to you. You’ll see two smart British gents make fun of Wall Street hedge funds selling dodgy debt packages, and bailouts that “reward the ingenuity of the market.” Very amusing. And as it’s several months old, on the money, as it were.

Apparently, director Michael Bay is shooting parts of the next Transformers film (how long until it comes out?) in IMAX. And that is good, my friends. If you were fortunate enough to see “The Dark Knight” in IMAX, then you know the power of a large screen/speakers combination. The original “Transformers” film was really impressive…even if you don’t have any sort of background with the toys (which I don’t). So it’s hard to imagine what GIANT FREAKING ROBOTS will be like on an IMAX screen.

“Take one extremely eccentric family that doesn’t give a hoot about money, another family that cares about nothing else, a pair of mismatched lovers, a wacky clash of cultures, and you have what the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem is betting will be a winner with their audience when it opens this week. And it’s starring the greatest actress in the world, Ashley Davis!”*

“You Can’t Take It With You“ is a classic American comedy. It opened on Broadway in 1936, had a smash run of more than 800 performances and won a Pulitzer Prize. Two years later, it won an Academy Award in the film version directed by the legendary Frank Capra. Written by the famous theatrical duo of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the play is a romp between two families who couldn’t look at life more differently. You Can’t Take It With You is set in New York, where a zany family under the patriarchy of Grandpa Martin Vanderhof goes up against a very conservative family whose son is in love with Grandpa’s granddaughter, Alice.

Now you might wonder…why is BDiddy devoting a blog entry to community theatre? It’s all because of my sister-in-law, Ashley Davis. If she’s in it, I can tell you that it’s gonna be great. Ashley’s been practicing with the rest of her cast and crew for weeks now. And you can finally see her this Friday night…opening night! Me and the wife and lots of our peeps have our tickets already. And if you’re in the area, you should, too!

Forgive me if I’m a little distracted this week. But you see, I’ve got FSU football on my mind.

Here’s the deal. We’ve got a HUGE game coming up this weekend. A season-defining game. A program-defining game. And you’re saying…BDiddy, it’s just September. Calm down. But no, I won’t.

Look, let’s be frank. Realistically, the Noles haven’t really been a part of the college football conversation for several years now. There’s the Chris Rix era/debacle. There’s Bobby’s age and rumors of his forced retirement. Lots of change on the coaching staff. Several embarrassing losses. Lack of leadership on the field AND off. School-wide academic scandals. Hey, it’s been a while since FSU fans have had something to be proud of.

So for us, the Wake Forest game could represent a new beginning. We’re hopefully putting the academic fraud situation behind us (several of our starters will be sitting on the sidelines simply watching this one). Bobby Bowden seems energized by the new staff. A good spring has crossed over into two excellent showings in the first two games (albeit Div 1-AA opponents). And I really like the direction that Assistant Head Coach-In-Waiting Jimbo Fisher is taking this team. Things SEEM to be moving forward.

But it’s all talk so far. It doesn’t mean anything unless we walk off the field Saturday night with a win over Wake Forest. If we do, we get tons of starters back and a suddenly-soft ACC schedule ahead of us. If we do, it would mean that maybe we do actually belong somewhere near the bottom of the AP Top 25. If we do, the nation could take notice that Florida State football is something to be taken seriously again. And if we do, we could very well be looking at the beginning of Bobby Bowden’s victorious ride into the sunset of retirement. IF we win.

So here’s something to get you started on this Tuesday morning…just days away from Saturday night’s kickoff. It’s brash. Confident. Probably a little ridiculous. But you know what? I like it. I give you QB Christian Ponder’s comments from just yesterday.

“You know, I got to say we’re not going to lose this game,” he said. “It’s going to be tough – I think everybody’s going to be prepared and everybody’s going to be excited and I think it’s going to be tough for us to lose this game.”

After this proclamation…awkward silence. Had Ponder, a quarterback with two career starts to his name, really just guaranteed victory against the highest ranked team in the ACC? One reporter told Ponder that he was pulling a Joe Namath. Orlando Sentinel writer Andrew Carter made mention that this was Ponder’s first guarantee, a moment to recognize and remember. There was some laughter, and some folks brought up the last time an FSU player made a bold proclamation, which was when Geno Hayes a season ago said that Florida’s Tim Tebow would be “going down.” That one didn’t work out so well.

Offered a chance to take back his statement, Ponder said, “You know what, I’m not guaranteeing anything. But I think with how prepared we’re going to be and how focused we’re going to be – we’re going to be fighting hard and I think it’s going to be tough for us to lose……We’re going to be prepared … everybody’s going to be focused this week and everyone’s going to be excited for this game. And I think we’re going to definitely make a statement.”